Banco Santander sees no reason to remove Barrabes from board despite his new status as investigator

Banco Santander does not believe that the fortune of businessman Carlos Barrabes has changed from witness to the person under investigation in the so-called “Begoña Gomez affair” reason to remove him from his position as director or to question his suitability.

Last Friday, the judge investigating the case of Begoña Gómez, the wife of the government’s president, decided to change the status of businessman Juan Carlos Barrabes from a witness to an accused and call him to testify in the case. next one is July 29th.

Judge Juan Carlos Peinado’s decision came after Barrabes testified as a witness and popular prosecutors demanded that he be called back as an investigator.

In his testimony as a witness, Barrabes claimed to have held several meetings at the Moncloa Palace with Begoña Gómez, who remains on the case as an investigator into alleged crimes of influence peddling and business corruption.

Before the judge launched an investigation into Begoña Gomez, Banco Santander invited Barrabes to join its board of directors as an independent outside director. The European Central Bank (ECB) approved the appointment last month. after passing the regular aptitude test.

Sources at Banco Santander assured Europa Press that the bank analyzing the case and monitoring the situation of his current advisor.

“We don’t see any new circumstances that have arisen that would make us think he is not a suitable adviser. According to banking rules, the mere fact of undergoing an investigation does not in itself mean that one is no longer fit to continue to hold the position of director,” bank sources note.

While the ECB must conduct reviews of all directors when they are initially appointed, it can also carry out reviews ex post.

As the European banking supervisory authority points out on its website, where it explains the process, “members of the management body must at all times remain fit for the position to which they are appointed.”

Possible new ECB assessment

“The emergence of new facts (…) may lead to a new assessment by the ECB of the member of the administrative body. In serious cases, this may lead to dismissal of the said member of the administrative body”emphasizes authority.

The triggering of this reassessment process may arise as a result of new facts becoming known, either because the bank itself informs the ECB, because the ECB finds new data, or if it receives information from other sources, such as the public, the press, national authorities or audit reports, among others.

Anyway, ECB-supervised banks are required to report to their national supervisory authority (in this case, the Bank of Spain) of any new facts that may affect the initial assessment of suitability. The national supervisor must then inform the ECB itself.

“The ECB frequently finds that an appointed person or a member of an administrative body is or has been the subject of a criminal, administrative or civil proceeding or other regulatory investigation of a similar nature (…). Although there is a presumption of innocence in criminal proceedings, “The very fact that a person is being prosecuted has a bearing on suitability.”

ECB details.

After indicting Barrabes last Friday, this Monday the prosecution decided to appeal the decision, realizing that Judge Peinado had overturned the decision. “due to lack of motivation.”

The prosecutor’s office is asking the magistrate to cancel this order and issue another order in which “the decision taken in connection with the change in the procedural situation is adequate and sufficiently reasoned.”